Nightwing Beyond
by Churnok
Summary: A vigilante gang, tailoring itself after Bruce’s old partner, is slowly taking over the Gotham gang scene. Batman goes to talk with the leader, who is retiring from the gang so he can go to college.


**Nightwing Beyond**

**By Churnok**

**Disclaimer**

**Batman Beyond is the copyright of DC comics and Warner Brothers and is used here for non-profit entertainment purposes only. Permission is given to anyone who wants to archive this story as long as they let me know first and give me a link to their site. I welcome any comments, questions, and/or constructive criticisms.**

Batman watched from the shadows across the street as members of, what had quickly become the most powerful gang in Gotham, entered a building that had been a personal playhouse of the Jokerz. It was one of numerous such hangouts that this group had taken from every rival gang that plagued the city.

They called themselves Nightwings, and they were unlike any gang in the history of Gotham. The media even went so far as to call them vigilante Boy Scouts since many of the areas they patrolled used to be dangerous even during the day. Now people could walk those same areas during any hour of the night in relative safety.

Not that every law abiding denizen approved of them of course. Publically, the police did everything they could to discourage them from their vigilante activities, despite the fact that half the police kids in Gotham were part of this gang of good guys.

Batman emerged from the shadows, walked over to the main entrance and gave the secret knock.

"Who is it?" a voice growled as the door opened to reveal a muscular teenager in regular street clothes. The mask covering his eyes was the only visible sign of his allegiance though Batman knew the Nightwing emblem would be visible somewhere on his clothes. Every member had to wear it while on duty, but it was the choice of each individual as to where it was worn as long as it was visible in a combat situation.

"It's me Chuckles," the Dark Knight replied.

"That's not my name anymore and you know it," the guard stated as he opened the door further to allow Batman entrance.

"Sorry Charlie. Old habit."

"Well break it," he said with a smile as he cracked his knuckles, "or I'll have to resort to some old habits of my own." It was a hollow threat and they both knew it, but even among Nightwings some posturing was necessary.

Charlie used to serve as a muscle boy for a group of Jokerz, the same ones that used to use this building. When the Nightwings took over they made him a better offer and he changed sides. One of the benefits of his new allegiance was that this high school dropout was now getting his GED. And he wasn't the only one given a second chance by them. As Batman entered the main room he reflexively scanned everyone in it, and noted the ones who had traded in their former colors for the mask and stylized blue bird emblem once worn by the original Nightwing. The former members of Gotham's other gangs were dropouts, delinquents, and lonely kids just looking for a group to belong to. As Nightwings they had friends who would fight to give them the help and support they needed to turn their lives around. Despite this, some still harbored grudges against the Dark Knight for past encounters, as was evidenced by their respective reactions. But for every member who wanted to take him down, there were two who would fight by his side without a second thought. He may not wear their colors, and he kept his secrets, but he was still one of them.

Much of the building had been remodeled when it came under new management, thanks to anonymous donations of money and materials from companies like Wayne Industries and Foxteca. Between the training rooms, the peer mentored classrooms, equipment labs, and all the other necessities of a vigilante group of teenagers, it was sometimes a surprise that the video games and other recreational equipment were still around. But, then again, everyone needs to unwind. As Batman made his way to the bar he remembered what his mentor and predecessor, Bruce Wayne, had said about the games the Justice League kept aboard the Watchtower.

"Hey Bats, how's it hanging," the bartender on duty said as she handed her fellow vigilante his usual bottle of orange juice. The bar may be a remnant of the building's former residents, but its days of serving alcohol were over by unanimous agreement. Self discipline was one of the pillars that they lived by.

"Pretty good so far." Batman took a swig from the bottle. "With you guys taking down the small time scum and taking over the gang scene I might actually be able to retire."

She rolled her eyes behind her mask. "Please don't say stuff like that. It's bad enough our Wing Commander is calling it quits. I don't think I could bear it if I didn't see your smiling face on a semi-regular basis."

"Where is he by the way? Isn't tonight the night he names his replacement?"

The Wing Commander was the name given to the leader of each group of Nightwings. Most of them were founding members of the gang or close to it. This one was passing the torch so that he could go to college in Bludhaven.

"Up in the office getting ready for the big moment." She sighed. "It's not going to be the same without him. Most of us owe a lot to that guy. Heck, I hear that it was his idea to start the Nightwings in the first place."

Batman shrugged. "Take it as a good sign. He feels that he can trust you guys to carry on with the good work you're doing. Eventually all of us will have to do the same thing." He took his juice and walked towards the stairs that lead up to the office. "See you later."

Purely for the fun of it, and because it gave the new members a thrill, he used his jets to fly up the steps instead of just walking up them. He landed at the office door and knocked.

"Come in," came a tired young voice from inside. Batman entered and closed the door behind him.

"What do you want Terry?" the Wing Commander asked from behind a cheap office desk.

"Did you really think I'd miss your retirement party if I could help it?" Terry replied as he removed the bat-suit's cowl.

"I wish you wouldn't call it that," he groaned. "I'm going to college not an old folks home.

"I know Twip, and I'm proud of you because of it. " Terry walked across the office and sat down in the chair in front of his little brother's desk. It was almost scary how much the Meginess boys resembled each other. Terry was clearly the older and more muscular of the two, but otherwise you could tell at a glance that they were brothers. "Not only have you started a gang that acts as a teenage police force, you managed to keep your grades up enough to earn a scholarship at the same time. I was never able to do that when I took up the mantle of Batman."

Matt laughed, "Are you kidding? You're grades were bad even before you took that job with Mr. Wayne."

"Watch it," Terry stated with a smirk, as he pointed his finger for emphasis. "Mom's not here to keep me from pounding your scrawny butt."

"Yeah, but there are a couple dozen Nightwings downstairs who will hear the fight and rush up here. Some of whom are just itching for a chance to pound the notorious Batman."

Terry waved that aside. "I'll just tell them we were sparing and you slipped." They both laughed.

"I wonder what Mom would say if she could see us now," Matt said once they stopped laughing.

"Well she'd read us both the riot act for playing hero behind her back for one thing. Then she'd give me a second helping of tirade for not talking you out of it."

"Hey, you did everything you could to stop me. Both as Batman and as my big brother." It was true. On the first night Matt and his friends tried to be heroes Batman had saved their lives from some Jokerz and told them to leave the crime fighting to him and the police. The next day Terry had convinced their mother to enroll Matt in some martial arts classes after school, saying that it might keep his little brother from following in his footsteps and having a juvenile record.

"Actually, I did everything I could to give you the skills and allies you needed to survive," Terry confessed.

"You mean you knew those classes would backfire?"

"Duh. You're my little brother and the biggest Batman fan I know. It doesn't take much to figure out that, no matter how scary Batman was, there was no way he could discourage you from starting the Nightwings. Besides, the original couldn't discourage me from taking up the mantle, and he was scary _without_ the costume. So instead, I made sure you could protect yourself. I will admit that recruiting your entire class martial arts class was impressive though."

Matt shrugged. "It was easy. Most of them joined because they wanted to be like Batman and fight the bad guys. Some of them even wanted to call our group the bat brigade or some other team name that incorporated the word bat into it. Fortunately, Instructor TJ overheard us and suggested we call ourselves Nightwings."

Terry suppressed a chuckle. TJ Drake was the eldest son of Tim Drake and, despite the retired Robin's best efforts, had inherited many of the qualities that made his father a good crime fighter. The only difference was that he believed the best way to protect people was to teach them how to protect themselves. Which was one of the reasons Terry had directed his mother towards that dojo. "Remind me to have Batman thank him sometime. For one thing, none of you have my resources or equipment. For another, I don't think I could stand having to deal with a bunch of bargain basement Batboys every night, even if you are more of a help than a hindrance, most of the time."

"You still tried to discourage us when we started out," his little brother stated. "You even turned us in to the cops those first few weeks. Boy was Mom furious when she found out."

"Hey, you were a new group trying to fight every gang in Gotham," Terry countered. "As both Batman and your older brother, I had to give you the hardest time possible to make sure you were serious about what you wanted to do. Otherwise you were going to do something stupid and get people killed."

"Yeah well, for what it's worth, you did a good job keeping us grounded, in more ways than one." They shared a smile over that. Many early members had stopped being Nightwings because their parents found out and went ballistic. "Between the cops, the gangs, and you, I'm surprised I managed to not only keep this idea going, but make it grow into something this big. I mean we've disbanded or absorbed almost half the gangs in this city and there's even talk about starting a junior branch for young kids which would be called Robins."

Terry shrugged, "What can I say twip. You started something big. I just helped you refine it."

"And now I'm quitting so I can go to Bludhaven university," Matt sighed. "You think I'm doing the right thing bro?"

"Do you trust the people you're leaving in charge?" Terry had subconsciously shifted to his Batman voice.

"Yeah, but…"

"Do you trust me to keep them in line?"

"Of course, but…"

"Then you have nothing to worry about." Terry shifted back to his civilian voice. "The city is in more good hands than ever and if you don't get out of the vigilante business now while you still can, you never will. Talk to the head of the law program you're going into if you don't believe me."

"Mr. Grayson?" Matt gave his older brother a puzzled look. "I hear he's a retired lawyer, but what would he know about costumed crime fighting?"

Terry smiled. "Talk to him and find out." When Terry had called the former ward of Wayne manor in the hopes of helping his brother get accepted at the university, Dick Grayson had made him promise not to tell Matt that he was going to meet the original Nightwing. Not because Dick was ashamed of his past. He just wanted to have the honor of telling Matt in person.

At that moment an alarm went off and a female voice spoke through the com links of all the Nightwings in the building. "Gang war in the park. Trevor's team is on it but they need backup."

"Tell Trevor that I'm coming with Batman and everyone who's ready to go," matt said into his link as he put his mask on and adjusted his utility belt. He looked at his brother, who was already wearing his cowl once more. "Ready to fight alongside your little brother one last time?"

Batman smiled, "I wouldn't have it any other way Wing Commander."

They went out together, followed by what the media called a flight of Nightwings that were prepped for both battle and medical aid. Naming a successor could wait. Right now they had a city to protect and the Nightwings were going to prove to their commander that he was leaving Gotham in good hands.


End file.
